In December of 2009, the Council of the Borough of Columbia faced an eerily similar situation concerning the discontinuance of an independent contractor (The IRS defines the role of an independent contractor) with a contract to manage the Market House.  It is curious to note that the Council then considered it a “personnel action” and dispatched the issue as such … in chambers. Terms of contracts involving independent contractors are personnel actions.

The reasons for discontinuance of a contract generally holds that most state laws contain verbiage that holds that “data about a person is not normally available to others … except for certain explicit exceptions, personal information maintained about an individual may not be disclosed without the person’s consent.”

The Council meeting minutes stated that a motion was passed: “To terminate the market manager agreement dated 11 May 2009 by and between the Borough of Columbia and Renae Sears and direct that the Council President will provide written notice to Ms. Sears that the aforesaid agreement shall terminate 30 days from the date of that notice in accordance with the terms of the Market Management agreement.”

We could locate no reports of independent council sub-committee meetings with protagonists or antagonists in 2009.

(SOURCE: Columbia news, views & reviews, March 2011)

In the absence of consistent, verifiable, “black-and-white” reporting, rumors inevitably become a source of information. The problem is, as General William Tecumseh Sherman noted, “I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are.”

Prudent reporting on a topic demands fact-checking and that means when a “rumor” surfaces, multiple sources need to be contacted to get all sides of truth (or facts) in the matter. Hey, we are going to make mistakes on this information platform, Columbia news, views & reviews, … but we are going to strive for fact-based articles. If we get wind of something by the rumor mill, we are either going to cite it as just that: a rumor. Or, more likely, we are going to talk with other sources or get the documentation. A great component of living in a free country is that citizens have access to government documents via the Right To Know Law.

Additionally, we try to subscribe to the Journalist’s Creed (The Journalist’s Creed was written [around 1906] by the first dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, Walter Williams. More than a century later, his declaration remains one of the clearest statements of the principles, values and standards of journalists throughout the world.)

• I believe in the profession of journalism.
• I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.
• I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.
• I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.
• I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.
• I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends.
• I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.
• I believe that the journalism which succeeds best — and best deserves success — fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.

And while rumors are juicier and more exciting to believe, we believe citizens are served better by truth and facts.